Most critics rate NYPD Blue highly, and almost all make the same point: the language, the nudity and the handheld camera drew the attention, but the writing and the acting hold it together. The praise clusters on the scripts, the character work and above all on Dennis Franz’s Andy Sipowicz, whom several reviews single out as the show’s lasting achievement. The pilot draws particular admiration, and a number of critics credit the series with opening the door for the dramas that followed.
The reservations are about how far the grit goes. The Hollywood Reporter finds the rawness synthetic, more technique than real inquiry into police work. The Independent thinks it a diluted version of what Homicide was doing, more conventional in its plotting. Vulture notes the show grows ordinary in later seasons and prefers The Shield. Seven of eight reviews are positive and none negative; the spread is narrow, and the doubters question the method rather than the quality.